When I took Intro to Interdisciplinary Studies three years ago I started my twitter for class. Since then, I have continued to use it (occasionally) and I find it extremely useful for my field. International Education encompasses so many different things. I follow politicians to keep up with International and Domestic policy and news, as well as Governmental Institutions that make decisions for the US education system that affect International Education. Through Twitter, I have found more and more NGOs and IGOs that have lead me to different people and organizations. Another part of International Education is the Study Abroad industry. There are many parts of Study Abroad. Universities can have partnerships with other international universities through exchanges or direct enroll, but more popular are the study abroad providers. They act as a third party to organize and facilitate a student's study abroad experience. I follow many study abroad providers on Twitter such as CIS Abroad, AIFS, API, and so many more. Following these accounts allows me to keep up with developments of new programs, the way that they market them, and employment opportunities. Marketing is a huge field within the field of Study Abroad, so keeping up with Twitter and the way that they sell their programs is a way that I learn how to market the Study Abroad programs at PSU. NAFSA Association of International Educators is another great organization that I follow on twitter. They post about conferences, job opportunities, and different articles published by scholars within the field.
I plan to continue to use my Twitter. It allows me to connect with others in the field, and there is always something new every time I open the app. Each week I like to try and follow new people/companies/organizations/universities. I retweet things that interest me, and I see my own Twitter profile as a mini portfolio of things that I like to learn about, and as a way to spread information to other people as well. I am open to being a public as necessary because I am using this profile strictly professionally. I think it is important to keep a good image of yourself especially on the internet where anyone can see your profile and activity. I will say still that Twitter is not my favorite thing to use, and I often find it difficult to use it routinely. This is something that I hope to work on this semester.
Update May 9, 2019:
To see an overview of my PLN from over the course of the semester, please click this link.